


Once Upon an Apocalypse

by Somanyfandomstoolittletime



Series: Once Upon an Apocalypse [1]
Category: The Last of Us
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25472533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Somanyfandomstoolittletime/pseuds/Somanyfandomstoolittletime
Summary: Riley was only a teenager when the Cordyceps fungus began to run rampant and infect the world’s population. Now she has to fight to survive in a world that is hard to survive in. Fighting became even more important when she meets a little girl named Ellie.Disclaimer: I do not own the Last of Us, just Riley.PS I have changed the name as I have not played the second game yet and got inspired to write this story when I was replaying the first in anticipation of playing the second.
Series: Once Upon an Apocalypse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1845112
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Once Upon an Apocalypse

Two words. Fuck Pittsburgh. Riley knew going through this fucking city was a horrible idea. Did anyone listen? No. Now she was hiding out in a building alone and trying to meet up with her group. Easy task? It would be if it weren’t for the hunters in that god damn Humvee. She could hear the voices of two men start to get louder, which could only mean they were heading in her direction. 

“Shit.” She mutters before ducking under a desk and pulls her knife out of her belt.

“I’ve got this room. You check the other. She couldn’t have gotten far” says one of the men.

Riley holds her breath as the door to the room opens. She could hear the heavy footsteps, and before one of the hunters walks past her hiding spot - it was now or never. She quietly gets up from her hiding spot and sneaks behind the man. She brought up the knife and stabbed it into his neck and before she could pull it out the man fell to his knees. Riley quickly pulled the knife out and for safe measure stabbed him in the neck a second time leaving the hunter a heap on the floor grasping at his neck choking on his own blood as she wipes her knife clean on his clothes.

She put her knife back in the brown leather sheath on her belt before she started to check his body for anything of use. She only found some bandages and stuffed that into her bag, while whispering “don’t mind if I do”. As bandaids in the apocalypse are always needed. However, she desperately needed another gun, or more ammo for her Beretta 96A1, as the one bullet in her gun wasn’t going to do much. Except maybe buy her a quick way out.

Riley looked at the 2x4 the hunter had dropped in the scuffle. 

“Better than nothing” she mumbles to herself and after a deep sigh she picks up the bulky awkward object, feeling it in her hands as she slowly stands upright and makes her way to the door on the other side of the room. 

She gingerly opens the door and glances out, upon seeing no one she makes her way into the hall keeping the 2x4 ready. Riley knew the best thing to do was to kill them quietly in case the Humvee was in hearing range.

The door beside her opens and Riley swings the 2x4. The second hunter grabs it before she can make contact and slams her into the wall. She yells in pain and drops the 2x4 upon the impact of the concrete in her back. The man then grabs her by her shirt collar and tosses her to the ground.

“I’ve got you now,” he sneers before kicking her in the side. 

She yells in pain but manages to keep moving forward, her eyes on what she needed.

“You thought you could just kill us and we wouldn’t find you?” He questions as he kicks her again.

Her fingers grasp the brick before she rolls and slams it into his knee. With a loud pop, much like a tree branch breaking under pressure, he hollers in pain as his leg buckles before she hits it again.

Riley gets to her knees before hitting him in the head with the brick.

“Fuck you,” she says before hitting him in the temple. He stops moving and she winces as she steadies herself upright, feeling her ribcage, it didn’t feel broken at least. She then notices a bow on the hunters’ body and quickly grabs it and searches his body for anything else that may be of use before someone comes looking for their missing men. 

As she leaves the room Riley adjusts the bow around her torso and shoves the arrows in her bag, careful to have the tails sticking out for easy access. She also found some bullets for her gun on his body. She was definitely lucky that he didn’t use either of those on her.

As she gets to the hallway once more, she decides to go against carrying the 2x4. She opted for her knife instead.

“Keep moving, Riley,” she tells herself. 

She was so close to getting out of this fucking city and getting to the radio tower. Would anyone else make it out of here? She sure as hell hoped so but there were a lot of ambush points in this city. She reaches the end of the hall and takes a deep breath as she puts her hand on the doorknob. It was now or never.

Riley crouches as she opens the door before poking her head out. It looked clear, for now at least. She keeps low as she moves into the alleyway and down to the street. She could hear the Humvee coming so she ducks behind a dumpster. Did she mention that she hates that fucking Humvee? While waiting for the Humvee to drive past she began to wonder if she should wait for the cover of darkness to move. She noticed that the hunters were definitely less active at night so it seemed like the perfect time to escape. Which meant for the time being she needed to find a safe place to rest.

Riley peeks her head out and sees the alley across the street. There were apartment buildings there and she hoped she could hide out in one until night time. She cautiously makes her way to the end of the alley and pokes her head out. She sees that the coast was clear for now and takes the opportunity to move. She stays low as she goes into the street and stays hidden behind the wrecked cars. She makes her way across the street and into the other alley. She eyes the wall and looks around and spots a garbage can.

Riley grabs the trashcan and puts it beside the wall. She grabs the ledge and pulls herself atop it before dropping to the other side. She sees the tents and the decrepit looking bookstore as she examines her surroundings. Riley hears voices and feels her adrenaline kick in as she spots a fire escape. She grabs another trash can before putting it under the ladder. She makes sure to move carefully as she climbs on top of the trashcan as any sudden noise could alert potential threats. She manages to grasp the wrung of the ladder and pull herself up.

She climbs to the first landing and tries the window.

It’s locked. Shit.

So she makes her way farther up, having to try a few floors before she finds one that was open.

Before entering she pulls out her knife, ready to use it to make sure the place is clear.

Riley hops off the windowsill, knife at the ready. She quickly looks outside and feels a small wave of relief flood through her when she sees that no one saw her. Riley closes the window and locks it behind her to ensure nothing or no one could follow her in. She looks through the apartment to see if there was anything she could salvage once she clears it. She was able to find a small first aid kit, a small sewing kit, matches, a new book for her to read, and a couple cans of chicken noodle soup. She smiles at the last thing she found, that was her mom’s go to soup to make when either one of her children were sick. She closes the blinds next before going over to the couch. She places her bag down before flopping down onto the couch. She was in desperate need of sleep before she could even go through with her plan.

Riley wasn’t sure how long she was asleep for before she hears a loud shot that jolts her awake. Did they find her? She quickly gets off the couch and grabs her gun out of her bag as she looks around. When she hears another shot she crouches low as she makes her way to the window. She sees a gruff looking man in plaid.

“Looks like the hunter’s found another victim,” she says with a sigh, almost relieved.

That’s when she sees the little girl and swears. “This isn’t your fight, Riley.” She tells herself.

Riley sees them duck behind a dumpster as a shot hits it.

“Motherfucker,” she grunts before she grabs her bow and goes back to the window. She opens the window and takes aim at the hunter approaching the man and child. 

She inhales deeply into her stomach and releases the arrow upon exhale, the arrow soars through the air and it hits the man square in the chest before he falls to the ground.

She knew it wouldn’t take them long to find her hiding spot now. She takes aim at another person and fires another arrow, seeing him fall to the ground as well.

Riley quickly goes to grab her bag.

“She’s in here!” Riley hears before a loud bang on the door. 

“Shit,” she murmurs before bolting for the window again and going onto the fire escape. 

She hears the door being kicked open as she runs down it. A shot is fired and hits the stair beside her but she doesn’t stop. She hears another shot before a body falls past her and she reaches the bottom. She sits on the ledge of the fire escape before jumping down, ignoring the small jolt of pain in her side as she takes cover. 

She aims with her bow again before shooting the other hunter on the fire escape.

“Who the hell are you?” The gruff man demands as he joins her. 

“The dumbass who’s gonna get herself killed for helping you,” Riley snaps.

A hunter rounds the bend of their hiding spot and the man moves quickly, grabbing the hunter by his neck and shoving him into the wall.

Riley quickly moves forward while grasping her knife and plunges it into the hunters head.

“Move!” The man in plaid yells before grabbing her and they take cover again as a shot is fired.

“If we duck in the bookstore we may be able to flank them,” Riley says as she looks at the man and he nods.

“Ellie, stay close,” he tells the little girl.

“I know,” Ellie says. 

They stay crouched as the man leads the way inside the rundown bookstore. Riley stays crouched behind a metal cabinet and the man crouches by another with Ellie.

“Where the hell did they go?” A man asks and Riley tenses.

“Keep searching. They couldn’t have gotten far,” another man answers as Riley takes her knife out.

Riley keeps her knife ready and the man signals for her to wait.

Her muscles tense, making her ready to strike as soon as she can.

As soon as the hunters’ arm becomes visible and she takes the opportunity to stand and lunge with her knife.

The knife goes into the hunter’s neck as her ally grabs the other one to choke him. 

She pulls her knife out and shoves the hunters’ body forward, away from her, as she moves away as the man grabs his neck.

He falls to the floor and bleeds out as her ally takes care of the other.

“There can’t be many more left. I took care of a bunch before you joined,” the man with the child says and Riley nods. 

“Let’s finish this floor then clear upstairs,” she says.

“Joel!” Ellie warns before she sees the man sneaking up on who Riley assumes to be Joel. 

Riley quickly moves forward and stabs her knife into the hunters’ arm causing him to yell out in pain and drop his weapon. He lunges for Riley and manages to grab her neck, allowing him to slam her into the cabinet. 

She grabs his wrists in an attempt to move his hands away from her neck.

The hunter is pulled away from her moments later and Joel pulls her knife out of the hunter before stabbing it back into him.

“Thanks,” Riley says as she grabs her neck and the hunter falls to the ground. 

“No, thank you,” Joel says as he pulls the knife out and wipes it on his pant leg.

“Here,” he says as he extends it to her.

Riley grabs it before putting it back in its sheath. She quickly searches the body and grabs a few arrows before she grabs her bow that was dropped in the scuffle.

Riley keeps an arrow to the string as they clear the first floor and collect supplies.

“There’s a fire escape outside that leads upstairs. That may be our best bet in catching them off guard,” she says and Joel nods.

“Lead the way,” he says and she stays crouched as she goes to the window at the far end. She climbs out of the window before making her way to the stairs.

“Let me go first,” Joel says and she gestures with her hands extended toward the stairs.

“Be my guest.”

Joel goes up first and Riley follows with Ellie taking up the rear. Joel motions for her to stop before he goes inside. Riley makes her way quietly to the top of the stairs and as she peeks her head out she sees Joel grab a guy. Joel strangles the hunter, bringing them to their knees, her heart races, hoping no one sees him. Riley lets out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding as Joel takes cover. He motions for her and the duo joins him before her eyes scan the place.

“I think I only spotted three hunters up here,” Riley whispers.

“Me too. Can you handle yourself?” Joel asks. 

“I helped you, didn’t I?” She questions as she tries to hold back the sarcasm in her voice.

Joel nods.

“Go left,” he says. Riley nods before heading in that direction. She keeps hidden behind the bookcases as she creeps closer to a hunter standing by a doorway. Riley knew there was no way to use her knife on him without him seeing her.

As a result Riley draws an arrow before taking aim. She releases the arrow and ducks, not wanting to risk standing longer than she needed to. She peers around the bookcase and sees the fallen hunter before she continues forward. Riley hears a shot and quickly hides behind another bookcase as she looks around. When she realizes that the shot wasn’t aimed at her she peers behind the bookcase to find the culprit.

Joel and Ellie were directly across from her and a hunter was approaching them. Riley doesn’t think twice before grabbing another arrow and standing. She takes aim and fires the arrow at the hunter before it hits him. 

“Watch out!” Riley hears Ellie yell and Riley quickly ducks and rolls. A loud bang ripples through the air as a bat hits the bookcase where she was standing moments earlier. She lands on her ass before shuffling back away from the hunter.

A shot rings out and the hunter falls before Riley takes in a deep breath, breathing in the mustiness of the bookstore as she tries to steady herself. She needed to thank the cranky bastard now. Riley gets to her feet before making her way over to the other two.

“That looks like all of them. Thanks for that,” Riley says.

“You’re welcome, you coulda gotten yourself killed,” Joel says and she glares at him.

“You’re welcome too, asshole. I didn’t have to stick my neck out for you,” Riley snaps.

“Why did you?” Joel questions.

“Her. If she wasn’t with you I wouldn’t have bothered,” Riley says.

Ellie interrupts by clearing her throat.

“Ahem. It’s time to lighten the mood,” Ellie interrupts and Riley looks at her in surprise as she pulls out a book. 

“Baker’s trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis,” Ellie says and Joel sighs before looking at the girl.

“Knead,” Ellie repeats.

“I get it,” Joel says.

“A moon rock tastes better than an earthly rock…because it’s meteor.,” Ellie says before giving a small laugh at her own pun.

“Oh man, that made me hungry,” Ellie says and Riley can’t help the laugh that comes out. Something that seems to encourage the girl.

“A backwards poet writes inverse,” Ellie says.

“That’s a good one,” Riley says.

“Do you even get that?” Joel asks Ellie.

“Of course not,” Ellie says and Riley smiles at her.

“I used to be addicted to soap. But I’m clean now.” Ellie says.

“Okay. That one’s bad.” Riley says and Ellie smirks and gives a small laugh.

“Alright, I’ve actually never heard that one.,” Joel says.

“Alright. I’m done…for now.” Ellie says and Riley couldn’t help but feel an immediate liking for the girl.

“You do this often?” Riley questions.

“Often enough to try and annoy him. Now that you two are calm, I’m Ellie,” Ellie says.

“Riley,” she replies.

“I’m Joel.” Joel says and she looks at him as he sighs before running his hand through his hair.

“Thanks for your help earlier,” Joel says and she nods.

“You’re welcome,” She answers.

“So you’re coming with us right?” Ellie asks and Riley looks at the girl.

“Ellie...” Joel warns.

“What? She saved our asses and the more people we have the easier it will be to get out of this shithole, right?” Ellie questions.

“She’s got a point. I can watch your back and you can watch mine. We may be able to get out of here in one piece,” Riley says.

“Fine. Let’s take a quick look around and see what we can find,” Joel says.

“I’ll be over there,” Riley says nodding her head toward the bodies on the floor.

Riley searches the hunters bodies and grabs the Ruger Mini-14 off one of their bodies and some ammo. She was also able to salvage some bandages and food before she turns her attention to the bookcases.

“You looking at books?” Ellie says and Riley looks at her.

“Yeah, there’s not a whole lot to do nowadays,” she says as she grabs one off the shelf. “This is a good one if you’re interested,” Riley says as she extends the book to her and Ellie smiles.

“Thanks,” Ellie says through a smile and gingerly places the book in her bag.

Riley grabs the book that originally caught her eye before putting it in her bag. 

“Quit dawdling!” Joel calls out.

“He always like that?” Riley questions as they start walking towards him.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Ellie says. 

Riley got the feeling it was going to be a long day.


End file.
